"…It's kind of a double whammy, and aviation is the first to suffer and the last to recover," he said. "People really think two and three and four times before they decide to take a private airplane."

The price of aviation fuel is more than $6 a gallon, roughly double what it was four years ago, flyers say.

The Herald reports that similar declines at Arlington Airport and Harvey Field in Snohomish are part of a national trend. Aviation is affected by high fuel prices. Fewer people are learning to fly and flying their own planes.